Primary Prevention and Awareness Campaigns

Primary Prevention and Awareness Campaigns
All students and employees within our campus community deserve to feel safe and supported. Robeson Community College prohibits the crimes of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking and works year-round to provide you with education, tools, and resources to recognize concerning or harmful behaviors and strategies for intervening or to help others get the support they need.

As part of these efforts, Robeson Community college provides primary prevention and awareness campaigns for all incoming students and new employees as well as ongoing prevention and awareness campaigns for all Students and employees.

What’s the difference between primary prevention and awareness? 

Primary Prevention
Primary prevention programs are those that are intended to stop dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking before they occur through the promotion of positive and healthy behaviors that foster healthy, mutually respectful relationships and sexuality, encourage safe bystander intervention, and seek to change behavior and social norms in healthy and safe directions. In the descriptions of our programs below, you’ll get a sense of what programs focus on these ideas and encourage you and your peers to intervene if appropriate.

Awareness Programs
Awareness programs are programs that are community-wide (anyone can access) or audience-specific (targeted towards a certain segment of our community or students or employees specifically) that increase your knowledge and share information and resources to prevent violence, promote safety, and reduce perpetration. Our awareness programs may address primary prevention specifically, but may also raise your own knowledge about these types of crimes and how they can impact a campus community.

In the descriptions of our programs below, you’ll get a sense of what programs focus on these ideas and encourage you and your peers to intervene if appropriate.

What is bystander intervention?
Bystander intervention involves safe and positive options that might be carried out by an individual or individuals to prevent harm or intervene when there is a risk of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

 Bystander intervention includes:

• Recognizing situations of potential harm;
• Understanding institutional structures and cultural conditions that facilitate violence;
• Overcoming barriers to intervening;
• Identifying safe and effective intervention options; and
• Taking action to intervene.

You’ll learn more about these options in the programs described below, but here are a few strategies for bystander intervention to consider:

Being a Proactive Bystander
A Proactive Bystander is someone who recognizes a problem early on and decides to offer assistance. If you know someone who might be in an abusive relationship, you can help.

• Tell the person that you are concerned.
• Actively listen and respond positively and sensitively
• Offer your friendship and support.
• Encourage the person to seek counseling
• Let them know that this type of behavior isn’t normal

Being a Reactive Bystander
A Reactive Bystander is someone who decides to positively intervene in hopes of deescalating the situation.

• Get Help! Contact Campus Police or other authorities
• Create a distraction
• Offer to take the victim to a safe location
• Avoid any confrontations with the abuser. This could be dangerous for you and the victim

These programs are comprehensive, intentional, and integrated programs, initiatives, strategies, and Campaigns intended to end sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. Below is information on the programs we offer. For more information on some of these offerings, visit or call Counseling and Career Services Office or Title IX Office.